Gunman kills 7 in hotel

Seven people died when a man opened fire with a handgun during a church service at a hotel in the American state of Wisconsin yesterday. Four people were wounded.

The gunman, aged 45, killed himself. He was identified but not named by police, who said that he 'was either a member or somehow affiliated with the church'.

Four of his victims died at the scene. Three died later in hospital.

The shooting happened during a regular service of the Living Church of God in a meeting room at the Sheraton Hotel in Brookfield, a suburb 10 miles west of Milwaukee.

Brookfield's police chief, Dan Tushaus, said that the man began firing while the service was going on. Police were searching the man's home in the nearby town of New Berlin to try to find more information about him.

Tushaus said there was no indication of a motive. He said the church had been meeting at the same place for the past four to five years.

The four who died at the scene were were identified as two boys aged 15 and 17, a 72-year-old man and a woman aged 55. Three men, aged 44, 50 and 58, died later in hospital.

A man of 52, a woman of 20, a man of 20 and a 10-year-old girl were all in serious condition in hospital.

· Police in Georgia yesterday arrested a man believed to have shot dead three people, including a judge, in an Atlanta courthouse.

Elite teams surrounded an apartment in an Atlanta suburb after Brian Nichols broke in while a woman living there was returning home. She managed to call police and Nichols surrendered without a struggle.